Hikou
by Talia Ali
Summary: What if Chichiri had broken Hikou's hand instead of his spirit? This is the story where Chichiri doesn't let go.
1. Fight

 Disclaimer: It's all Yuu Watase's.

Hikou

**Chapter 1: Fight**

_Talia MT Ali_

"Hikou!" Houjun shouted over the rush of the water, clutching his oldest friend's hand desperately. Tears streamed down his face and were flung away by the rain. "Hold on, please! I didn't mean it, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."

"Houjun, now is _not_ the time!" Hikou said back. Some remote part of Houjun marveled at his ability to cope. Not five minutes ago, Houjun had been trying to kill Hikou, and now... now...

The floodwaters had been higher than any could have predicted this year. So far, the dikes their village had erected had been enough to hold the wayward waters at bay. This flash flood had some upon them suddenly, almost unnoticed by the fighting young men until Hikou was nearly thrown into the water. Without even thinking, he'd grabbed for the flailing hand and didn't regret it. What was he thinking, fighting like that? Was their friendship really worth fighting over a girl, even one like Kouran?

A part of him wanted to scream that she was _his_ fiancée, not Hikou's, and that he had no right to touch her that way. _Especially when Houjun had barely been able to touch her, and then only under a chaperone's disapproving gaze. He had often fantasized, however, and just as often told himself that Kouran was pristine, deserving no label or expectation. To see Hikou behaving towards her in that way had stunned and horrified him. He hadn't been thinking clearly, or thinking at _all _for that matter. Now he realized that he loved Hikou just as much as he loved Kouran, and would die if he lost both of them._

It was all he could do to keep holding on to Hikou. The downpour soaked him to the bone, plastering his bangs against his face. Everything was wet except the palms of their hands, clutching each other in a watertight grip. His feet slipped on the water-slick grass. Houjun had to go down on one knee to maintain his balance. It would do Hikou no good if he were pitched into the river at the same time.

Seconds passed as hours as Houjun strained to bring both of them back onto the shore. His muscles burned with pain and adrenalin. Something ran into Hikou's body, dragging them downstream with it. Both hissed with pain. Tears came to the stricken man's eyes as flesh ripped and tore. Houjun stretched out nearly flat on the grass, tightening his grip as his arm was wrenched from its socket. He felt as though his bicep was tearing with the effort.

"Drop me, Houjun," he pleaded, "Before you're lost too."

"No," he gritted. "Not this way. I'll strangle you with my own hands before this river takes you."

Hikou laughed a trifle grimly, face as pale as the overcast sky. Suddenly, some unseen force dragged him under. Houjun lurched forward, refusing to let that hand slip away as long as he drew breath. The last thing he saw of Hikou was his eyes disappearing beneath, desperate and helpless with the need to live. Managing to dig his feet into the sodden turf, Houjun stopped the motion, arms elbow-deep in murky water that held rapidly escaping bubbles.

"HIKOU!" he shouted, and hauled on the unresponsive arm. The current fought his every move, threatening to flip him over and over until the bank disappeared and water devoured his breath and life.

Something screamed in every subconscious alarm system he had. He spotted a dark and foreboding object approaching fast from upstream. He couldn't move! Hikou's weight bore him down, making it impossible to avoid the object of his doom. He ducked his head and tensed his neck, hoping against hope that whatever it was wouldn't hit Hikou.

Stars exploded in his eyes, and he knew that whatever it was had knocked into him, hard. His neck wrenched painfully to his right, and his attacker passed him. There was no pain, but he couldn't see anything but the fireworks in front of his eyes, and his neck was tight as if he had strained it badly. He breathed through his teeth, waiting for the pain, shouting inside his head _"Holdonholdonholdon!!". When it came, it was more powerful than the river, sweeping over him like a typhoon. His grip crunched all of a sudden. Alarm swept over him, overriding the pain, as he felt a massive bubble erupt in the turbulent water in front of him._

He wasn't dead! He couldn't be! Houjun would not admit it until he saw it. For that, he needed to get Hikou out of the water.

Dizziness overwhelmed him, and he knew he didn't have much strength left. Hikou's cold, broken and irresponsive hand was slipping from him, just as consciousness was deserting him.

NO! He wouldn't let that happen! He could _not_ give up on Hikou, on his oldest friend, just because he was knocked silly and Hikou was probably unconscious and the water was pulling at him like a waterfall...

"ARGH!!" Houjun felt sudden warmth spread through him, burning away the fatigue and clearing his vision a little. A detached part of his mind wondered if he was dying and shouldn't his life be flashing before his eyes? But the warmth hit his muscles and he didn't care anymore. If he was just dreaming this, a death dream, he and Hikou were lost anyway. But if he wasn't, maybe he could save his friend's life and his own. The heat stimulated his muscles to unmerited levels of activity. He hauled, and Hikou, coughing weakly and sputtering, came out of the water and collapsed on the shore next to Houjun. Houjun felt the strength ebb from his bones. 

Crawling weakly over to his oldest and best friend, he saw Hikou was still putting up with more water than air in his lungs, and his hand was squished, and he was scratched and bleeding and bruised and soaking, but he was alive. Thank Suzaku, he was alive.

"Houjun?" Hikou said, his voice a whisper. Another coughing fit erupted from him, and water spewed out onto the already dirty and slick grass. A haze still clouded his thoughts and the blackness seemed to be closing in on him from both sides. The input from his left eye seemed to consist mostly of yellow fireworks, and his right was registering everything else in a blurry, crimson fog. But they were both alive, if Hikou wasn't a dream, and he was practically sobbing with relief.

"Thank Suzaku. Thank Suzaku." Houjun prayed as his friend tried to rest before he was taken with another round of hacking coughs. "If you'd died..."

"You s-saved my life." Hikou gasped. "I was afraid you would let go."

"How could I let you go?" he said, sobbing with relief. "You're my best friend. I could never forgive myself if..."

The thought was too horrible to voice completely. Hikou coughed long and hard, but no blood came to his lips, only water. Houjun winced with sympathy. When he spoke he sounded a lot stronger.

"Well, my hand's broke, and I hurt, and I can't breathe, but I think I'll live."

"Good." Houjun's head swam. "Because I think now I need to pass out."

"I'll be okay for a few minutes."

Letting his head slump to the wet grass, Houjun listened to his friend's gasping before allowing the blackness to overwhelm him. He sank into it gratefully.

***

A/N: Read, enjoy and review! Everything I do, I do it for you! ^_^


	2. Survival

 Disclaimer: It's all Yuu Watase's.

Hikou

**Chapter 2: Survival**

_Talia MT Ali_

To his great dismay, he was not awakened by his mother in response to his screaming, to tell him it was all a horrible dream. There was only the feeling of a knife etching itself into his eye... oh Suzaku, his_ eye_... 

After the pain, the sound of rushing water entered his ears first, and then the sound of someone's belabored breathing. Houjun stirred, wondering why he was so stiff and tired and sore and hurting so badly. It was like his face had been ripped apart. Where his head was resting, the grass was coated in red and flecked with green. Trying not to move anything on his face for fear that the pain would explode out of his tenuous control, he raised his head to look at Hikou.

His oldest friend was almost bent double, still trying to purge the last of the liquid from his lungs. He cradled his hand - which looked terribly managed and bent out of shape, inciting a round of vague guilt in Houjun's mind. Hikou's clothes were torn almost to shred, but he was alive, thank Suzaku. He was alive and could be well given some time.

"H-Houjun?" Hikou asked, his breath sobby and erratic. "Are you okay? You're bleeding pretty bad."

"I think I'm okay. Head wounds always bleed really badly. It's probably just a scratch," He managed to say, scrabbling to his hands and knees. Several piles of vomit, and finally just sour-smelling fluid, were spewed nearby. Avoiding them carefully, he inspected Hikou through his one working eye. The other might have as well as been non-functional with the discordant images being produced there. He pushed aside the thought and the pain for a moment and knelt next to Hikou to look at his hand.

"At least one or two bones are broken, brother," Houjun said quietly, and looked up at his friend. Hikou looked vaguely sick and worried. "If we can get back to the village, the Healer will be able to set them right.

For a moment, Hikou's eyes glazed over as he looked towards the village. Then they came back to reality with a jolt, and he was terrified.

"Houj, the village... the flood..." Both young men swallowed as they looked uncertainly at the engorged river and felt the rain pounding on their backs. "We have to get back and help with the sandbagging. The dikes weren't built for this."

Terror seized Houjun as he realized Hikou was right. The river was swelling far beyond its bounds. There was no way that the village could stand up to that kind of pressure...

NO! He couldn't think that way. They had probably held out this long - at least this long! The village was well equipped for flash floods.

But this one came out of nowhere, his mind whispered. It must have begun raining upstream before quickly moving this way. He tried to push it away, feeling the first stirrings of desolation. No warning, no protection, no village.

"Yeah, come on," Houjun carefully pulled Hikou to his feet. A few shaky steps, and he stumbled into his friend. Somehow, Hikou stayed upright and steadied him, but he was so, so dizzy. If he could just sit down... if his face would stop throbbing...

"You need to stop that bleeding," Hikou announced, and let his injured friend down to sit on the grass. "You'll faint again if you don't stop it."

Looking down at his shirt, Houjun vaguely noticed that it was red, where it had been white before. That was a lot of blood. Hikou removed the remains of his shirt and wadded it up into a ball so he could press it to Houjun's face.

His nerves _screamed as Hikou pressed on his wound. He saw black for long moments. When he came to again, he saw the round face of his oldest friend peering worriedly down at him like the moon come down from the heavens, surrounded by wriggling worms of stars and yellow and red blotches. With a jerky hand, Houjun took the impromptu bandage from Hikou and held it to his pounding face. Crimson blood soaked into the wet material._

His brown eye asked the other man for assistance in standing, and was rewarded with Hikou's good outstretched hand. Hikou tried to keep the worry and fear from his face, but Houjun saw and wondered what was the matter. _The village..._

As if in response to the thought, Hikou turned to walk in the appropriate direction. He was unresistingly pulled along. Trying to stay upright and conscious was really an incredible feat, he mused. Hikou cradled his mashed fingers against his chest and put his other arm around Houjun.

The cloth dripped away his blood as they stumbled on.

***

A/N: Read, enjoy and review! Now, I have a lot of this fanfic already written, if not edited… I find editing is a pain in the rear. However, nice reviews will make me feel warm and fuzzy, so I edit faster… hmm, was that a bribe? YES! ^_^


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